Such is my ignorance of this particular slur that I didn’t grasp the outrage when I first watched the clip. I took “coconut” to be some sort of archaic Three-Stooges-esque putdown, like “dimbulb” or “numbskull.” Turns out that the boss emeritus has been dealing with it for decades, just as black conservatives have had to deal with the “Oreo” nonsense. A review of the transcript at Newsbusters makes me think, yeah, that’s exactly how Deutsch intended it:

BEHAR: What’s his name? I don’t know him. Rubio?

DEUTSCH: Marco Rubio. He’s running against Charlie Crist, who I think has done a great job. And he is the new great, you now, hope down there.

BEHAR: So, basically, these people, the tea partiers are basically angry with the right and the left for the same reason, that there’s fiscal irresponsibility?

DEUTSCH: No, they’re angry- they’re basically- their argument is- and I think there’s a lot of racism underneath it– is- “He, they, are taking your civil liberties away. They’re stomping on the Constitution. They’re telling us how many bullets we can have in our guns.”

Rubio should consider himself lucky: Yesterday at The Root, Clarence Thomas got lumped in with Mugabe, Idi Amin, and the D.C. Sniper as black men so monstrously embarrassing to their race that history would have been better off without them. Looking forward to Rubes inevitably ending up on the left’s Cuban version of the same list, along with Batista and … well, anyone but Castro.

If you’re searching for a silver lining here, consider this evidence that Rubio really has arrived as a national figure. You’ll know he’s presidential timber when blackface photoshops of him start showing up on nutroots blogs. Click the image to watch.

Update: Hmmmm.

I said “coconut” meaning simple, goofy, bananas…wasn’t even aware it could be a racially charged word